Psalm 37. This is a long psalm. And there are so many wonderful
things in this psalm. Just reading through it, there
are so many things. It's one verse. You could just preach
from one verse. And we're going to look at this
differently. I want to look at something very specific in this. We're going to skim the whole
psalm. But as Brandon just read this
for us, this psalm is... Talking about two types of people. Two different types of people.
The wicked and the righteous. All through the psalm. The wicked
and the righteous. Look at verse 17. It says, The arms of the wicked
shall be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. Verse
21 says, "...the wicked borroweth and payeth not again, but the
righteous showeth mercy and giveth." The wicked, in which they're
called evildoers, and the righteous. I thought there was none righteous. No, not one. That's what Romans 3 says, doesn't
it? None righteous, no not one. Turn with me over to Matthew
23. Matthew 23. And let's look at verse 34. Wherefore, behold, I send unto
you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them you
shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall you scourge in
your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city, that
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from
the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of
Barakias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar." God
said Abel was righteous. That's what He said. By faith
Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
by the which he obtained witness that he was righteous." God testifying
of his gifts. So there's at least one righteous
person. At least one. God said so. Go with me over
to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1 verse 5 says, There was in the days of Herod
the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias of the course
of Abiah, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her
name was Elizabeth, and they were both righteous before God,
walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless."
There's two more. Two more. What does that mean? Does the Scripture contradict
itself? Turn back over to Psalm 37 with me. We're going to find
out. Psalm 37 and look at verse 25. David writes, "...I have been
young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken,
nor his seed begging bread." Haven't seen it. If by nature
there's none righteous, and there is none righteous, God said so, If by nature all are born sinners,
if all come forth speaking lies, how can this be? How can an undeserving sinner
not be forsaken and be called righteous by God? That's the
question, isn't it? Here's how. When our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ When He hung there on that cross,
He became my sin. He became me and He became my
sin. He took all of my filthy, rotten,
dead, stinking sin and He laid it all over Himself. He became
me. And then our Lord cried the most
glorious words that a sinner has ever heard in his life. My
God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" He was forsaken. He was forsaken
for me. He was forsaken for every sinner
that God chose to make righteous. The righteous one was forsaken. That sinners might be made righteous. Because of that, David can say
in verse 25, I have been young and now am old, yet have I not
seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Every
sinner that God chose to put in Christ, they're not going
to be forsaken. None of them. That is the difference
between the wicked and the righteous. Who maketh thee to differ? Christ
does. Christ does. Now all those that
He did this work for, all those that He made righteous, they
are followers of Him. That's what we are, we're followers
of Him. Brother Tom put out an announcement, we're going to
move service from Wednesday to Thursday. And here comes Ashland,
and here comes Cottageville. And here comes Orlando. And we're
not followers of Tom and we're not followers of Gabe. We're
all here because we're following Christ. If two or three are met together
in His name, He said, I'm here. I'm here. All those that He did
this for, they're followers of Him and they're called believers.
That's what they're called. Believers. What a precious thing
it is to be a believer. It is such a precious, precious
thing to be a believer. It's a present. It's a gift. It's not a choice. It's not a
decision. It's a gift. And it is a precious
thing. Believers believe what God has
to say about who they are in their flesh, their sinners. Man,
I believe that. I believe it with all my heart. They believe what God has to
say about who He is by nature. He is sovereign. He is holy. He is just. He is right. I believe that with all my heart.
They believe in Every work that He has done, every work that
He has accomplished, they believe it's finished. It's really finished. That's the difference in the
truth and a lie. It's finished. That's the whole
difference. What a precious, precious thing
it is to be a believer. By God's sovereign mercy and
grace to me, I believe it's finished. I truly believe that. You believe
that too. You truly believe that. This
message tonight is for believers, specifically. Believers. It's for those who believe that
salvation is accomplished. Totally accomplished. There's no more work to be done.
Christ finished it all. This is for believers of that.
Here in Psalm 37, our Lord gives us some instruction. He gives
us some comfort. Some instruction and some comfort.
I was really, really thinking on tonight. Really thinking on
tonight. I think first and foremost, I
preach to myself. What does Gabe Stoniker need
this Thursday night? And then everybody else has to
listen to that. And the Lord gives us some instruction and
some comfort for the rest of our journey through this life.
I have, if the Lord doesn't come back, and if He keeps me alive
on this earth, I've got a long road ahead of me. We've got a
long road. It's not that long. And we're
not going to be alone. But He's given us some instruction
and some comfort for the rest of this journey through this
life. I need this. I really need this. He's given us eight exhortations
in here for believers. Eight exhortations. Our Lord
said, My people are not of this world. In Exodus 11, he said,
I've put a difference between Israel and the Egyptians, the
righteous and the wicked. I've put a difference. Believers
and unbelievers. And the first thing I thought
of is, I pity, my heart breaks for those who have not received
God's gift of saving faith. My heart breaks for them. I have
family. loved ones, loved ones that have
not received this gift of faith. And I don't care what they have
in this life. If they don't have Christ, they don't have anything.
They're working their way towards something. They're going to try
to pay off something and about the time they get it paid off,
it's going to rot and they're going to have to buy it again. I finally
got my van paid off. I'm about to buy another car. And I don't care what we have
in this life. If we don't have Christ, we don't have anything. And that's what David's saying
here in Psalm 37. They that are of this world,
they're at peace with this world. They mock God and they profane
His name and they steal His glory, yet they thrive. They thrive. And they flourish in this world.
Look at verse 35. Psalm 37, 35. He said, "...I
have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself
like a green bay tree." They're so happy. So happy in this life. They do have some poverty. And
they do have some sickness. They do have some hardships,
but they are at total peace with their sin. Total peace with their
sin. You know, to say, well, believers
have it hard in this life and unbelievers don't. Well, unbelievers
have it hard too. But you ask them, are you struggling
and are you dying over your sin? No. No, that's the one thing
I'm good on. That's fine. All I need is more
money or more time or more whatever it is. I'm good in that department.
They're not struggling with their sin. Believers are not so. They're not so. This life is
not easy for believers because they're in continual war with
their flesh. Absolute continual war with their
flesh. I am learning that more each
day. I have been saying it for years. I'm learning it more each
day. It gets harder and harder. War
with our own sin. We're consumed by it. We really
are. We're plagued by it. While we
watch this world spit in the face of our God and then go on
about their way just happily. Turn with me over to Psalm 73. Psalm 73 verse 1 says, Truly
God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost
gone, my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at
the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Envious. Go down to verse 14. For all
the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning.
If I say I will speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation
of thy children. When I thought to know this,
it was too painful for me. Until I went into the sanctuary
of God, then understood I their end. He said, I was so envious. I was just so envious. until
I went into the sanctuary and I saw their latter end." God
be merciful to us. Lord, don't leave me to myself.
Don't let my flesh wander into the world. Latch hold of this
world and not let go. Thank you, Lord, for saving us
from the wrath to come. Wrath to come. I know, you know, one of these days I'm going to
enter in. I'm really going to enter in to what I preach. Really. We hear these things
in this flesh. Let me tell you how I wore with
this flesh. It immediately goes, I know that. I've heard that.
Everybody's been preaching that to me since I was a kid. Yep,
that's the truth. Let's move on and get to the
next thing. Lord, thank you for saving me from the wrath to come. I wish that this world could
just for one second have their eyes opened. God help us. Thank you, Lord,
for saying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Go back over to Psalm 37 with
me. Verse 1, it says, "'Fret not
thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against
the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like
the grass and wither as the green herb.'" All flesh is grass. It's all grass. I don't care
what it appears they have going for them, they're going to be
cut down. Don't envy them. I was, a couple
of years ago, I was driving to Cottageville, West Virginia.
I spent the night at my dad's, Saturday night, and I was driving
by myself, going to preach in Cottageville. And I was tired. I had a business, a music business,
and I was studying from wake up to two. And then I was teaching
guitar lessons from two to nine. And then I was getting up on
Saturday and driving and coming back in Sunday night and then
starting the whole routine over again. And I was headed to Cottageville
and got off of the interstate and coming out of a gas station
was a guy in a gorgeous truck. Beautiful truck. And he was pulling
a gorgeous bass boat. I mean it was shiny. Sunday morning. And I looked at that guy and
I thought, I guarantee you that guy worked late Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Thursday so he could get off early on Friday.
Half a day on Friday. And then he has all day off on
Saturday. And then he gets up Sunday and
he has all day off on Sunday. Sleep in, go fishing, and then
he just goes and does it for a few more days and he starts
that all over again. And then it hit me, God be merciful on
this man. Be merciful to this man. I have
the privilege of worshiping God. God has broken me. God has put
a reign on me. He's pulled me down and He sat
me down. and He has forced me to bow the
knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, and in doing so, He has saved
me from the wrath to come." Oh, and I thought, thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord. Don't envy them. Bless their
hearts. They're going to be cut down.
They're going to be cut down. And I'm saying this right now
not to be mean. I'm saying this Save yourselves
from this untold generation. God, be merciful to sinners.
Please be merciful to sinners. Look at verse 12. Psalm 37 verse
12 says, "...the wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth
upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him,
for he seeth that his day is coming." Foolish man says, I'm
going to do this and I'm going to do that. while God is sitting
there in the heavens watching His days count down. Just watching
His days count down. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. He knows the exact day and hour and minute and second
that He's going to no longer allow that man to breathe. The
only reason I'm breathing is because God says, breathe, breathe,
breathe, breathe. And that's it. That's it. Verse 14 says, "...the wicked
have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow to cast down
the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation. Their sword shall enter into
their own heart, and their bows shall be broken." Our Lord said,
he that lives by the sword is going to die by the sword. He
said, vengeance is mine. My word is sharper than any two-edged
sword. piercing the heart. Verse 16
says, "...a little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches
of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall
be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous." How many people
do you think know this God? This God that breaks arms? That's shocking, isn't it? Somebody's going to say, that's
not my God. Apparently not. But thanks be to God, that is
our God. That is our God. Their God is
not like our God. Our God is God. Verse 20 says,
"...but the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall
be as the fat of lambs. They shall consume, and to smoke
shall they consume away." He's saying, don't envy that lamb
or that pig or that cow that's just sitting up in that nice
stall. Sitting up in the nice with the big stall, being fattened
for the slaughter. God be merciful to us. God be
merciful to us. This is why we preach, isn't
it? This is why we stand in the highway,
in this broad way, crying, the bridge is out. Wake up! You're headed into destruction. Fear this God. You're going to
meet Him. Bow the knee. Kiss the Son, lest
He be angry. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand." Believers hear that. And do you know what they do?
They believe it. They believe it. How do they
do that? They dig down deep inside themselves
and find their faith and pull it up and use it? No. It's not
of themselves. It's the gift of God. It's all
of God. Salvation is of the Lord. Lord,
have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. What a precious thing it is to
be a believer, a believer. It's a gift from God. It's a
gift to be chosen by Him, to be put in Christ. That's a gift
of God. Now here in Psalm 37, our God
has given us eight exhortations for believers. Eight exhortations. Heed these, truly heed these.
And again, I'm preaching to myself on this. This will help us through
the rest of this journey. This will greatly help us through
the rest of this life. Here's the first one. Here's
the first one. Considering all things, considering
that Christ became my sin for me, and He put away my sin, He
was forsaken by God that I might never be forsaken. Considering
that God is God and God said, vengeance is mine and God will
do all things. Considering salvation is totally
of the Lord. Here's the first exhortation.
Verse 1 says, fret not thyself because of evildoers. Fret not thyself because of evildoers. I need constant reminder, reminding
of this. Let's not allow ourselves to
Burn with jealousy? I've got to remember that. Or envy? Or anger? Over other men and women? Fret
not. They have it as good right now
as they're ever going to have it in their soul's life. This
is all they have. This physical life and this physical
flesh is as good as they're ever going to have it. We get Christ. We get Jesus Christ. One of these
days, with my own two eyes, I'm going to see my Christ and I'm
going to hug Him for my own. He is my inheritance. Feel sorry
for them. Feel sorry for them. But for
the grace of God, there go I. When it comes to co-workers and
things like that, but for the grace of God, there go I. We're
going to be around somebody that's just fret not. Fret not. Fret not
over evildoers. Who knows what Russia is going
to do? Fret not. That's right. Fret not. I don't get the news and every
time I watch it I find out something I wish I didn't know. And I turned
it on the other day and I saw where the Muslims in America
have formed a group, they've named it something, they've realized
if they will all vote together they can sway presidential elections.
Fret not. Fret not. Everything is in the
hand of God. Your God is in control. Fret
not. He is absolutely in control.
Well, you know, they're going to do some cutbacks at work.
They're going to do some layoffs. I might lose my job. Fret not. David said, I've been young,
now I'm old, and in all my days, I've never seen the righteous
forsaken nor his seed begging bread. Fret not. Here's the second
one. Verse 3 says, Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. Trust Him. I mean really. Trust Him. We read His Word. We know His
Word. We can quote His Word. We do
believe it, but we don't believe it. We want to believe it. We
wish we believed it. Trust Him. Trust Him. He said, don't be afraid of the
arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence by day, or the arrow
by night. Trust Him. Trust Him. What if somebody's
waiting on me in the parking lot at Walmart? My God is in
control. Trust Him. Trust the Lord. He's given us His Word. We know
His Word. We have the knowledge, ask the
Lord, cause us to put it to use, Lord. Let's trust Him. It says in verse
3, Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land,
and verily thou shalt be fed. Just trust in the Lord. I'm talking
to Gabe Stoniker and you all just have to listen to it. Faith
in Christ will cause us to stop fretting. It will cause us to
stop fretting. Let's not trust in any man. Starting with this one. When
something goes wrong, who am I going to look to? This one.
I'll get myself out, thank you. No, I won't. That breath was just a command,
a present from God. The steps I took were a present
from God. The mind that's thinking is a
present from God. Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. Don't put our trust in any man,
any politician, any lawyer, any doctor to help us do anything. Trust in the Lord. Here's the
third one. Psalm 37 verse 4 says, "...Delight
thyself also in the Lord." That's a good one, isn't it? Don't fret. Trust. And then delight. Delight thyself in the Lord.
Our Lord is so delightful. He's so delightful. In Him we are so happy, aren't
we? This life is tough. But in Him, we couldn't be any
happier, could we? Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help." We are happy in Him. We're happy in
His house. I can't tell you how happy I
am to be here right now. There's no other place I'd rather
be. I just wish one of those two guys was preaching instead
of me. I was glad when they said unto
me, let's go to the house of the Lord. Let's all get in our
car and drive up and go to the house of the Lord tonight. Let's
do it. We are happy in His Word. We
are happy in His will. Lord, what would you have me
to do? I don't want to do anything that you wouldn't have me to
do. If I believe I am in the Lord's will, I just couldn't
be any happier. Is it easy? Nope. Are you happy? Yes. Yes, I am. We are happy in His mercy. Oh
man, every time we understand what mercy means, we're happy.
Very happy. The gospel is so sweet. It is
so sweet. It's so loving and precious.
It's nothing but good news. I have said nothing but bad news
for the first three quarters of this message, but the gospel
is nothing but good news because of all that bad news. Go with me to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 verse 1 says, Ho, every
one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath
no money... How terrible is it when you have
no money? I'm telling you, I don't have a dime on me. He that hath
no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Why? Christ has already paid
for it all. It's all been paid for. Verse
2, Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently
unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Just delight itself. God's people
are happy. Happy in Christ. Delight in the Lord. Back to
Psalm 37, here's the fourth one. Verse 5 says, Commit thy way
unto the Lord. Whatever is your way, whatever
comes your way, commit it unto the Lord. We have a lot of things come
our way. We have a lot of things come
our way. This is life, it's reality. And when you get that phone call,
you're having a good day and everything's going fine and you
get that phone call, commit it to the Lord. Roll it over to the Lord immediately. Roll it over. Whatever's keeping
you up at night worrying, commit it to the Lord. Roll your burden over to Him.
I have two little girls and I... Lord, save them. Lord, they're in Your hands.
Thy will be done. That's the only thing I can do. We've been put under the burden
of the Word. And this Word is a burden. It is a burden. It's a burden. One man said,
if a man knew what it was like to be a full-time pastor, he
would never take it. One man told me, I wouldn't wish
this on anybody and I'd never want to give it up. And I agree. And it's a burden. It's a burden. Lord, what do you want me to
say? What do you want me to say? I
love you all. Lord, what do you want me to
say? Lord, would you send a message? Lord, would you send your Spirit?
Lord, would you bless your Word? Lord, would you bless your people?
Lord, if you don't do it, we're not going to be blessed. Lord,
I'm going to have to roll it over to you. Roll your burden
over to the Lord. It's so far out of my hands,
it all has to be in your hands, every bit of it. Lord, thy will
be done. 1 Peter 5 says, Cast your care
upon him, for he careth for you. Here's the fifth one. Psalm 37
verse 7 says, Rest in the Lord. When God completed His work,
He rested. There's no more work to do. He has already finished the work. He has already finished the work.
The work of redemption, the work of my salvation, There's no more
work to do. Rest. If that work is finished,
there's nothing else to worry about. If I'm redeemed, there's nothing
else to worry about. Rest. Come unto Me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I'll give
you rest. Cast all your burden on Him,
and then rest. That's wonderful. Man, that's
wonderful. Here's number 6, verse 8. Cease from anger. Lord, help me to do that. Relieve me of that. Since we know that everything
God does is on purpose. We all know that, don't we? We
all know that. Since we know that everything
that happens works together for our good as believers. Since we know that if we knew
the end from the beginning, we wouldn't change a thing about
it. We know that, don't we? Let's cease from anger. What
do we have to be angry about? We get angry when it doesn't
go the way we wanted it to go. Which way is it going? The way
God purposed for it to go. The best possible way. Gabe Stoniker,
cease from anger. Every time my flesh wants to
raise his ugly head up, Lord, let me stifle him back down.
Just stifle him back down. That old man wants to rage, stifle
him back down. I want to show you a wonderful
example of this. Go with me over to 2 Samuel 16. This is a blessing. I'm preaching
longer than I ever preach, and I'm feeling the burden to wrap
it up, but I want you to see this. It's such a blessing. 2 Samuel 16. Verse 5 says, And when King David
came to Behurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family
of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gerah. He came forth and cursed still
as he came. And he cast stones at David,
he was throwing rocks at him. And at all the servants of King
David, And all the people and all the mighty men were on his
right hand and on his left. And thus said Shimei when he
cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial.
The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of
Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned. And the Lord hath delivered
the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son. And behold,
thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man.
Then said Abishah the son of Zariah unto the king, Why should
this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray
thee, and take his head off. And the king said, What have
I to do with you, you son of Zariah? So let him curse, because
the lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say,
Wherefore hast thou done so? And David said to Abisha and
to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my
bowels, seeketh my life. How much more now may this Benjamite
do it? Let him alone, and let him curse,
for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord will
look on mine affliction and that the Lord will requite me good
for His cursing this day." Lord, would you recall that to my mind
the next time? Really? Really? Man. They came to our Lord, and Peter
did cut off a man's ear, and the Lord said, Peter, put away
your sword. James said, The wrath of man
worketh not the righteousness of God. The apostles said, Lord,
do you want us to call down fire from heaven on them? Cease from anger. Joseph told
his brothers that solely meant slavery. You meant it for evil.
God meant it for good. God meant it for good. Let's
cease from anger. Here's number 7. Go back with me to Psalm 37. Verse 27 says, Depart from evil
and do good and dwell forevermore. Depart from evil and do good.
This is something every parent tells his child. Every parent. There is none good. By nature
we're all evil, but here's our exhortation. Let's strive to be like Christ. I hope we have clearly established
this is not for salvation. Christ did that. Christ was forsaken. This message is for believers. Lord, I want to be like Christ. Let's strive to obey His Word. If He says this is good and this
is evil, let's strive to do good and depart from evil. Lord, keep
us from the evil one. 1 Thessalonians says, abstain from
all appearances of evil. I'll tell you something that
appears evil to me. It's this young, cool, contemporary
religion. It seems evil to me. Let us not creep toward contemporary
religion. I'm going to speak candidly.
Our dear brother Henry is not preaching anymore. Our dear brother
Scott Richardson is already gone. And here we are, a younger generation. Lord, let us cling to the old
paths. And let us not creep toward contemporary
religion. Let us not get tattoos. and pierce everything on our
body so the kids will think it's cool to come to church. That seems unthinkable for a
sovereign grace church, doesn't it? But Lord, keep us from that.
Keep our flesh from that. Keep us from that. If it doesn't
look right, if something about it doesn't feel right, let's
stay away from it. Let's just stay away from it. Lord, for
the rest of our days, let us stay away from that. Deuteronomy
12, let me just read to you this. This is Deuteronomy 12, verse
28. It says, Observe and hear all these
words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee and
with thy children after thee forever, when thou doest that
which is good and right in the sight of the Lord. Observe and
hear. All these words which I command
thee, that it may go well with thee and with thy children."
Lord, I need it to go and I desire it to go well for me and for
my children. Conform us to Christ. The Lord
calls us to say, as for me and my house, we're going to serve
the Lord. Here's the last one, number eight. Psalm 37, verse
34 says, Wait on the Lord. Just wait on
the Lord. If a person truly trusts the
Lord, truly, and if a person truly delights in the Lord, and
if a person truly rests in the Lord, then that person is going
to be totally content to wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Everything happens in His appointed
time. It's never our time. Our time is yesterday. His time
is eternal. And in the space of eternity
to eternity, never-ending to never-ending, there's a few thousand
years where God has made man. And it's that fast. The whole
thing. And to us, it's an eternity. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the
Lord. Spurgeon said this, he said,
Wait on the Lord in obedience as a servant. He said, Wait on the Lord in
hope as an heir. And he said, Wait on the Lord
in expectation as a believer. Expectation. And verse 34 goes on to say,
He shall exalt thee to inherit the land. Those are wonderful
exhortations for us, aren't they? I pray the Lord will help us
and bless us with those. Alright, Brother Tom.